Formula 1: Miami race isn't happening in 2019

Formula 1 announced Monday that the series would not be holding a race in Miami in 2019.

The Miami Grand Prix was initially set to be added to the Formula 1 schedule for next season. Now it won’t be on the F1 calendar until 2020 at the earliest, as F1 said negotiations for the race hadn’t progressed quickly.

“In the last few months we have worked diligently alongside our promoter Stephen Ross of RSE Ventures, the City of Miami and Miami Dade Count to realize our ambition to bring a Formula 1 Grand Prix to Miami, and we have made significant progress; however these are complicated negotiations. Whilst our preference would have been to race in Miami in 2019, there was always a point by which delivering the best possible wheel-to-wheel racing experience for our fans, drivers and teams wouldn’t be possible in the time available,” the F1 statement said. “We have now reached that point as far as racing in Miami in 2019 is concerned.”

“However, we are taking a long-term view and as a result, we have decided, in consultation with the Miami authorities, to postpone sign-off until later in the summer, with the aim of running the first Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix in the 2020 season.”

RSE Ventures has the contract to promote the race. Ross is the owner of the Miami Dolphins and the news that F1 isn’t coming to Miami next year caps off a less-than-stellar week for him. Last week the Dolphins announced that players who protest during the national anthem before games in 2018 could face a suspension.

The lack of a Miami date in 2019 leaves the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin as the only U.S. F1 race. Maybe the extra time to get the race finalized will mean some extra time to get the track layout modified as well. The tentative layout of the track features two long straightaways going over the bridge from downtown Miami to the cruise port. That seems like not only a logistical nightmare, but a nightmare for passing opportunities as well.